America vs. Denmark: 28-26

boldhound8 said:Forget them, just remember Shola🙏

Man, forget about Shola. You really can't compare him to Sterbik if you're being objective and leaving the fanboy energy at the door. Honestly, anyone looking at this rationally would put Sterbik ahead of Shola. See, Shola is one of those "momentum" keepers—when he's feeling it, he's absolutely wild in the net, but when he's off, nothing gets past him. Sterbik is different. He’s consistent. No matter how he's playing, he's going to save a certain number of shots. And just imagine if he had the kind of defense our guys have, where most shots come from those wide angles where he actually excels.

Scholl is dealing with a guy who’s easily 260 pounds and built like a grizzly bear. When he jumps to make a save, he basically uses his entire lower body to cover the bottom half of the net, while his hands just snatch anything coming in above the midline.

Honestly, you can't even put Scholl in the same sentence as him.

silverstag19 said:Look, I don't care what anyone says about Schola—you absolutely cannot compare him to Šterbik. If you actually look at this objectively without being some biased fanboy, only an idiot would put Schola ahead of Šterbik. Here’s why: Schola is one of those "inspiration" goalies. When he's feeling it, he's an absolute beast, but when he's off, he's useless. Period. But Šterbik? He's the guy who's going to save a certain amount of shots regardless of whether he's having an "on" day or not. Now just imagine if he had to deal with the kind of defense our guys have, where most shots end up coming from the perimeter right where he's strongest.

I'm telling you, we've got plenty of solid goalies right here in the States, so we don't need to be groveling to any foreign players.🙂

Schola, whatever his deal is (and everything you said is true), has been a better keeper than both of them combined. At least up until now.🙂

boldhound8 said:I’m telling you, we’ve got plenty of solid goalies right here in our own backyard, so there's really no need to go chasing after foreign talent.🙂

Schola, whatever your deal is—honestly, everything you said holds up—is still playing better than both of these guys combined. At least that's how it looks from where I'm sitting.🙂

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Losert is actually a really solid keeper. But honestly? When he steps out for the national team, it’s like he isn't even there. He just doesn't play at his usual level. If I remember correctly, the last time he actually played like himself was back when we were playing in Athens. Something tragic happened to him then, and ever since, his performance for the US national team has been absolutely disastrous.

silverstag19 said:Look, I’ve already said in my other posts that Losert is actually a killer player, but when he suits up for the national team? It’s like he isn't even playing defense. The last time he actually played at his usual high level was back in Athens, and I swear some kind of tragedy went down there—at least that's how I remember it. Ever since then, his performance for the national squad has been a total disaster.

Yeah, things went totally sideways in Athens. We had a beastly defense, a decent offense, and great goalies (Scholl was stopping everything, too), especially him = 8 straight wins if I'm remembering right.🙏

Schola was the one breathing fire into that squad—cursing them out, screaming, pushing them to the limit... at least they knew someone actually had their backs.

As for Losert? Honestly, he looked about as useful as a screen door on a submarine while standing in the net.

I’m not exactly a fan of these Danes, but there's no reason to be terrified of them... well, except for Hvidta. He's the only one who truly keeps me up at night.

We really ought to consider granting citizenship to a top-tier goalkeeper; if we could just shore up that one specific area of our game, we would be absolutely unstoppable. I can't help but wonder, what exactly is going on with Nikola Blažičko?
Regarding Dominiković:

"The US is significantly weakened without Dominiković, as we lose the ability to run that 5-1 zone defense that caught the whole world off guard back in Athens. Without David, even executing a solid 6-0 zone becomes a struggle, which forces us into this 3-2-1 defensive setup that is incredibly draining. This might pose some real challenges in our upcoming matches, but we are keeping our fingers crossed for Dominiković's return. Regardless, I’ll be demanding everything from our defensive unit, because that is the only way we stand a chance at success." - the head coach added.

Good grief, honestly, is there ever going to be any consistency from Dominiković's side of the court?

frozentiger6 said:Solomon was more of a stabilizer than a world-class keeper.

The team just felt more secure with him back there, plain and simple. But let’s be honest—calling him world-class? Not happening.
.

That distinction could change everything.

Man, I’m staring at these stats right now... honestly, I just hope we can knock those Canadians out of the bracket soon enough.

They’re leading the pack with a massive 59 fouls this tournament, while the Canadians are sitting at 46, and we’re basically one of the cleanest teams out there with only 24.
They also have the most suspensions with 22, whereas we’re once again near the bottom of that list with just 8.

placidtiger87 said:We really ought to just hand out citizenship to a solid goalie. Honestly, if we could just nail down that one part of the game, we’d be unstoppable.

And man, those Spaniards really nailed it. Seriously, they did an incredible job.

Our guys are playing their second-round matches at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, which holds about 13,200 people. Honestly, though, there’s no way they’re going to get anywhere near the kind of home-court energy we saw back at the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart.
- "The Danes were handed 10,000 tickets here. We're going to try to buy up whatever the Norwegians have left since they're already out, but whether we can actually pull that off remains to be seen," said Damir Poljak, the Secretary General of the USA Handball Association.

Bantours grabbed about a hundred tickets for each game, but those are already gone.
- "The USA Handball Association didn't get a single ticket allocation for Mannheim. At this rate, we'll have to send a formal protest letter to Hassan Moustaf, the President of the International Handball Federation," noted Zoran Gobac, the Vice President of the USA Handball Association.

With general sales completely sold out in Mannheim, our fans are essentially locked out. Based on what I'm hearing, we might only see 500 or 600 Americans showing up to cheer them on. (dm)

A total disaster.

Screw the Germans and their whole organization. You haven't seen anything yet—wait until the circus starts during the semis and finals. I’m telling you, those Germans probably bought up 90% of the tickets themselves 🤮

What absolute idiots in our national association... and they think they can just sit there and do nothing about it???

Sorry, but I’m actually going to write a formal letter of protest!!! This is just... ridiculous... seriously...!!!!!!!

Oh please, as if ten thousand idiots wearing Viking hats are going to help those losers become anything other than the total hacks they already are. Once you're a failure, you're a failure for life. We're going to crush them.🙂

Seriously though, what's the trick? How on earth do the Danes manage to snag 10,000 tickets?😕

Well, damn, who actually thought the US would make it all the way to Mannheim? :rolayls:

And what’s with all the protesting, my dear Zoran? Just get your jobs done on schedule.

frozentiger6 said:Our handball players will be playing their second-round matches at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, which holds about 13,200 fans. However, they won't see anything resembling the fan support they enjoyed back at the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart.
- The Danes have already secured 10,000 tickets here. We're going to try to buy up whatever is left from the Norwegians since they've been eliminated, but whether we can actually pull that off remains to be seen, said Damir Poljak, the Secretary General of the USA Handball Association.

Bantours picked up about a hundred tickets for each game, but those are already gone.
- The USA Handball Association hasn't been allocated a single ticket for Mannheim. We’ll likely have to send a formal letter of protest to Hassan Moustaf, the President of the International Handball Federation, to address this, noted Zoran Gobac, Vice President of the USA Handball Association.

General ticket sales in Mannheim are completely sold out, leaving our fans with no way to purchase seats. Based on everything we're hearing, we might only see 500 to 600 American supporters showing up in Mannheim to cheer us on. (dm)

A total disaster.

There are still a few tickets floating around on eBay. They're going for maybe 100-150 euros each.
We're basically guaranteed a Danish takeover...👍

Susan Taylor34 said:this could be a dealbreaker.

Like, say when a woman is looking for a guy.🤣 🤣